January 17, 2016
SDRAWKCAB:
Saudi Arabia Is the George W. Bush of the Middle East : Riyadh has a clear strategy - just not one that Washington should endorse. (REZA MARASHI, JANUARY 5, 2016, Foreign Policy)
Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Saudi Arabia's top geopolitical goal has been to maximize its power at Iran's expense. The nuclear deal between the P5+1 and Iran has kicked Saudi Arabia's fear of Iran's geopolitical rise into overdrive. Riyadh sees Tehran's reintegration into global political and economic structures as a threat to its own regional power.But Saudi Arabia's paranoia is not solely reserved for Washington's Iran policy. The Saudi government has viewed most U.S. regional preferences since 2003 as threats to Saudi power, including but not limited to: support for the post-Saddam Hussein government in Iraq; Hosni Mubarak's overthrow in Egypt (and support for the Arab Spring in general); ending Riyadh's disastrous military adventure in Yemen; and preferring a political solution over Saddam-style regime change in Syria. American and Saudi interests are diverging on multiple fronts. Riyadh's latest escalation will exacerbate tensions with Iran in ways that make U.S. diplomatic objectives for Syria and Yemen difficult, if not impossible.What's worse is that Saudi Arabia chooses to address its geopolitical fears by promoting anti-Shiite and anti-Iran sectarianism. The Saudi government's analyses of the situations in Bahrain, Syria, and Yemen have been identical and disturbingly unsophisticated: Shiite Muslims are the bad guys, and Shiite Iran is interfering in Sunni Arab affairs. This message empowers the Middle East's worst ideologues -- the kind who think the Islamic State is admirable and the 9/11 attacks might not have been such a bad thing.
His own, accurate, arguments contriovert his thesis. Every American action since W began the WoT has empowered the Shi'a and the push for universal self-determination at the expense of Sunni autocrats. Saudi Araia is the Saddam Hussein of the Middle East. America and Iran are the W.
Posted by Orrin Judd at January 17, 2016 9:42 AM